The Will of the Medafighter:The Precursor Archives
by Asuka's Knight
Summary: The prequel to "The Will of the Medafighter". It tells the story of how Larry and Sheena first met, and how they ended up in Japan for the World Robattle Championship
1. A Choice Purchase

**The Will of the Medafighter: The Precursor Archives.**

**Written by Hyper Mystic Gohan**

**Author's Note: This fic is the prologue to The Will of the Medafighter fanfic. It tells how Larry first acquired Sheena, and the events that occurred before he ended up in Japan for the World Robattle Championship. Oh yeah, I apologise for the first two chapters. I know they're kind of dull and rushed, but it gets better, I promise. **

**Chapter One: A Choice Purchase**

Jane looked up at the young man who came into her store. She had opened her junkyard/Medabot store two weeks ago, and so far she had seen much more action on the junk side of things than anyone buying Medaparts. South Africa was still fairly new to Medabots, and the only other customers she had so far was a group of two teenagers who had taken one look at her parts and walked off, claiming that they could order better parts from overseas. She had muttered, "Stuck up idiots" as they left.

Her customer came inside and she could see he was probably about fifteen. His dark brown hair was untidy, and was growing past his collar. He had a friendly, intelligent face, which was looking around with interest at the parts showcased on the walls. She tossed her braided black hair back over her shoulder and smiled.

"Can I help you?"

He looked to her, and she noticed that his eyes were the darkest blue she had ever seen, bordering on violet. "Yeah, I was hoping you had an old Medabot lying around here. I don't want to spend too much on one, and the toy stores are a little too pricey for me."

Jane thought briefly, and then looked around behind the counter. She found what she was looking for and brought out a battered, dull yellow Medabot.

"There we go. Someone brought this in to me just last week. It's a pretty old model, called Metabee. It has twin Seeker missile launchers on its head and a laser cannon on the right arm. The man who brought it in told me it fell out of his car. The medal survived, but he thought the body was too damaged to use again. I fixed it up slightly, and with a bit more work, it should be as good as new."

"How much?" His voice sounded eager, excited.

"Well, I'll throw in the repairs for free, so how does three hundred bucks sound?"

"You can let me have it for that much?"

"Unfortunately, you'll have to buy a medal for it."

"I've got one, don't worry. How long will the repairs take?"

"Come back in an hour, it will be finished by then."

He looked down at his feet and scratched the back of his head.

"Would you mind of I stayed and watched you? If I want to start robattling, I'll need to know how to fix up Medabots. I'm pretty good with tools, but I could always learn more."

"Sure," She held out her hand. "My name's Jane. Nice to meet you."

He took it and gave it a firm squeeze. "Larry Linford, pleased to make your acquaintance."

Larry watched the girl go to work on the old Medabot. She explained the basic inner workings of the robot to him as she worked on knocking the dents out of the armour. The Medabot now looked a little more capable of doing something when actually activated.

"There," She stood up and wiped a thin sheet of sweat from her forehead. "It should run as well as ever. Now, where's that medal?"

Larry dug in his pocket and brought out a medal. It was shining brightly in the fluorescent lights and it was the strangest medal Jane had ever seen. She took it in her palm and looked at the one side. At the top, it had a Hercules beetle's head, and around the middle, there was a thin line of rust and it ended in the tail of a mermaid. She flipped it over, and instead of the smooth back of usual medals, it was bubbled with corrosion.

"I'm sorry to tell you this Larry, but this looks like a fake."

"It does? Why?"

"Well, it has parts of two different medals on it. See, a Hercules Beetle and a Mermaid. As far as I know, there is no such medal."

"Would you mind just trying it?"

"Alright."

She opened the cover at the back of the Metabee's body and slotted the medal in. It clicked into place with no problem, and all that was left to do now would be to jump-start the battery. It would only take about two minutes. While they were waiting, Larry asked her what difference the medals made.

"Well, apart from the personality traits, it also influences the qualities of your Medabot. Hercules Beetle medals give you a Medabot that is very skilled in using weaponry like lasers and suited to offence. Mermaid medals gives a Medabot slightly higher defence and the ability to heal itself. Ghost medals give high evasion abilities..."

She didn't get much further, because the Medabot suddenly jerked as the battery was fully charged. She disconnected the cable and handed Larry the Medawatch for the Metabee.

"You can probably take it home now. If anything goes wrong, or that medal gives you any problems, come back and see me. If, for some reason, it does work, come by in any case. I'd like to meet it."

"Thanks Jane. I appreciate everything you've done for me"

Larry strapped the Medawatch on in place of his old watch and hoisted his new (Old?) Medabot underneath his arm and left the junkyard.


	2. First Encounter

Chapter Two: First Encounter 

Larry opened the windows for his room, to let out some of heat that had gathered while he was gone. He placed the Medabot on the floor and lay down on his bed to examine it slightly closer. Jane had straightened out the dents, but the armour was still dull and dirty. He decided to wash and wax it after he figured out whether it actually functioned. Raising his arm, he changed the display to the damage/parts screen. It showed that the Medabot was operating at maximum efficiency, with no damage. He also noted that at the bottom, a picture of a medical cross was labelled "5"

"Okay, let's see if this thing works. Metabee, activate!"

Metabee lifted its head and looked around the room. It then proceeded to stretch out its arms. Larry saw that its eyes were a pale blue, and watched as it bent down to touch its toes.

"Ahh, it feels good to have a body again. Yo, where am I?"

Larry was surprised to hear it was a female voice, and proceeded to answer its question. "My house," It spun around and looked at him in what might be construed as surprise. "In the lovely country of South Africa. I'm Larry, your new medafighter."

"Oh, you are? You don't really look all that capable, pal."

"Well, I don't have any experience, if that's what you mean. But, I'm pretty sure that after some practice, the two of us will make a pretty good team."

Metabee hopped on top of the bed next to him and jabbed him sharply in the side. "You don't need to worry about anything. Just let me handle the robattling, okay? You won't need to help me out."

Larry felt confused. "But, I thought a Medabot and medafighter were supposed to together."

"Look, buddy. I'm one of the baddest Medabots you're ever going to meet. I DO NOT need any help."

With that, she jumped off the bed and powered down without another word. Larry was amazed at this abrupt declaration, and wondered if the medal he had found was damaged. He had been strolling by the marsh on the way to a friend's house, when he noticed something shiny sticking out of the reeds. When he bent down and pulled it out, he saw that it was a Medabot medal. He thought that it was lucky, since he was planning to go look for a Medabot the following afternoon after school.

Now, he was thinking it might not be that lucky.

Larry woke up at seven o'clock the next morning, wondering whether he could afford to skip school, so he could spend some time with his Medabot. He decided it wasn't really necessary, because it was the last day of this term and he came out at twelve. Four hours of school wasn't going to kill him, and he would have the opportunity to show Metabee to his friends.

He leaned over and activated Metabee once again, and she looked at him with a glance of disinterest.

"Morning Metabee. Ready for school?"

"Well, if it means we can have some robattles, then yeah."

"Listen, my school has a few rules about Medabots. We can bring them to school, but they have to stay outside classes. Robattling is only allowed on school grounds during break and after school, got that?"

"Yeah sure, when are we going?"

It took Larry about thirty minutes to get dressed, and then he and Metabee took off down the road to his school, which was about a ten minute walk from his house.

_Final period, thank the lord. _Larry thought as he tried to avoid falling asleep in the final few minutes of his maths class. His day had been pretty uneventful, so nothing new there. Metabee had impressed his friends somewhat, despite her slightly lousy attitude, and the girls thought she was just great. Now, she was sitting outside beneath the window by his desk.

"Alright class, now remember to do those examples on page fifty-three before we come back for the next semester. I hope you enjoy your holidays."

His maths teacher, Mrs. Reid shut her book just as the bell rang. Larry stepped outside and, much to his dismay, found that Metabee was gone. He looked up and down the row and found her long gone.

Finally, he spoke into his Medawatch. "Metabee, where are you? I thought I told you to wait outside the class."

The voice that responded was slightly harried. _"Can't talk right now, I'm busy. Later!"_

Larry was confused, until two older kids ran past yelling about a robattle. Then it struck him like a brick, and he ran off after them.

He found her in the quad, battling one of the Bills. The Bills were the three richest kids in his school, and had been some of the first to get Medabots. They were the stereotypical snobs, in their final year at school as well as also three of the worst bullies Larry had ever met.

The one she was battling was Jeff, a tall, gangly student. His red hair was always trimmed in a square cut, giving him the look of an extremely underfed Marine. Jeff's entire battle strategy was based on speed. He continually made darting attacks on his opponents, all those little bumps adding up pretty fast in heated combat.

Hank was the thickest of the three, but not someone you wanted to mess with. Though only five foot five, he was a solid 234 pounds of pure destructive power. His strategy was simple of course. Go in fast, hit them hard...Repeatedly. He didn't care about any damage done to his Medabot, as long as he completely destroyed his opponent.

Kara was the leader. A tall girl with long red hair, she was fairly popular amongst the guys, her wealth only adding to her appeal. She was the tactician of the group, always playing her opponent's weaknesses. Larry had actually had a small crush on her when he first came to this school, but that was before he knew what they did for fun.

 Their Medabots and parts were top of the line imports, and as Larry regarded Metabee's damage display, this fact was being shown quite explicitly.

Head: 68% Damage

Body: 80% Damage

Arms: 75% Damage

Legs: 60% Damage

Metabee was up against Nunchar. Nunchar was a compact green Medabot with a sword for one arm. It had a painted on mask, and a black cloak that billowed around as it dashed through its opponent's defence.

**Name: Nunchar**

**Speciality: Sword and Shuriken attacks**

**Type: NJN Ninja**

**Medal: Ghost**

**Medafighter: Jeff**

Larry made it through the crowd just as two of Nunchar's fired shurikens caught Metabee on her arms. His Medawatch beeped and the calm, computer voice told him _"Arm parts 100% damage. Function Ceased."_

"Stop fighting!"

She turned to him, despite the fact that Nunchar was bearing down on her again. "Hey, stop giving me orders. I can handle thi...GYAAH!"

"Metabee!"

Nunchar had dashed in and driven his sword right through Metabee's left leg. Sparks and the smell of burnt wires billowed out, and the leg immediately stopped functioning. Larry turned to Jeff, hoping to appeal to any sense of decency he had.

"Quit it, Jeff! She's defenceless."

Jeff merely smiled contemptuously. "Your Medabot should have thought about that before challenging me. If you could actually control her, it may have been different. Nunchar, finish it."

Nunchar tore into his mostly defenceless opponent with repeated sword strikes, before placing his shuriken launcher in front of Metabee's head.

"No! You can't do that."

"I just did."

The point-blank range of the shuriken meant it hit at full speed. Metabee's head snapped back violently and she collapsed to the ground. The hatch on her back opened up and her medal popped out onto the ground. Larry rushed over to Metabee, ignoring the gloating from the Bills.

Larry gravely examined the leg. "I can't risk activating her now. I'll have to get this fixed." Picking up his Medabot in his arms, he turned to Jeff. "Just wait, Jeff. When she's working again, I'm coming back for you."

The Bills smirked at his comment, and walked off. Larry then began his journey home, hoping his Medabot could be repaired.

Larry finally put the solder and diagram away, wiping his oil-stained hands on an old rag. He once more mentally thanked his father for having a huge collection of tools. Metabee was as good as new, but he needed to recharge her battery for a short while, as the final blow from Nunchar had knocked the primary conductor out of sync, and all her power had drained away.

Plugging her into the outlet in his room, he went into the kitchen to prepare himself some lunch. As he ate, he felt his doubts about the medal surface once again. All the magazines he had read about robattling said that the Medabot and medafighter needed to work together to succeed. If Metabee didn't try to change her attitude, the two of them would never work as a team.

"Hey, you ever hear of low-carbs?"

He turned his head and saw Metabee had recharged. She was standing in the doorway, hands laced behind her head. He smiled, despite still being annoyed.

"Glad to see you're still functioning. I was starting to think I would have to take a trip to the junkyard."

"Ha-ha, funny man." She jumped onto the chair opposite him. "Man, I can't wait until I see that guy again. And when I do..."

"Hold it right there. If you want me to keep activating you in the morning, I'm laying down the ground rules. From now on, we fight as a team...And no buts," He added, seeing she was going to interrupt. "I think what Jeff did was totally against the principles of robattling, and if we practise this weekend, the two of us will be booting his butt all over town on Monday. "

"What's the catch? Let me guess: You want me to stop talking back, and just become another toy. That's just what my previous medafighter wanted me to do."

Larry laughed. "Seems you need to get to know me better. I like your attitude, even though it's a little too much sometimes. I just want the two of us to become friends. We have to work together, because I don't want to see you in the shape you were in this afternoon, ever again. Now, There's a provincial championship in a few weeks, so you and I better get working. After Bill, it's the best medafighters in the country."

He stood up and Metabee followed him into the back yard.

"Come on, that's still too slow! Hustle, hustle!"

Metabee flipped over the first chair, landed on her hands, flipped over the second one and shot the five tins on the table over without missing a single shot.

"Man, this guy is some drill instructor...Now what?"

Larry tossed three balls into the air. "Move, Seeker Missiles. And no missing, or we start over."

Three puffs of smoke from Metabee's Seeker launchers and the three tennis balls vanished in a gust of debris.

"Evasive manoeuvres, Snake Pattern"

Larry was pelting her with more balls, and she had to zigzag through them. Finally, she reached him and collapsed.

"Geez, slow down Larry. It isn't going to help if you make me blow a fuse before tomorrow."

Larry grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, I just want to beat that self important son of a..."

"Okay, I get the picture. Hey, when are your parents coming home? They out for the weekend?"

"No, they're coming back in a month's time."

Metabee sat up, shocked. "'Say what? A month? Man, you one of those abandoned, only child type of guys?"

"Not really. Sure, my parents are busy. That's what happens when you run a multi-national company. But I guess the difference is that they actually make the time they spend with me special, so I don't mind them being gone. So, let's go for one more practice and call it a night."

Metabee merely groaned in response

Larry sat at his computer, downloading more attack and evasive patterns into Metabee's memory. She sat next to his table, deep in thought. Larry finally broke the silence.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"Huh? Oh, I was just thinking about a name."

"Name?"

"Yeah. I want to start over, leave the Metabee that lost to a stuck up brat behind, and get a new one. That and I think Metabee is a pretty common name."

"Really? Only fifty-thousand others were made."

"Cut the sarcasm Larry, I'm serious. Give me a good name, something that'll strike fear into the heart of my opponent."

Larry sat back in his chair, traversing through the mental filing cabinets. Finally, he snapped his fingers.

"What about 'Sheena'?"

"'Sheena'? Where did you get that from?"

"She's my favourite character from a fighting game called Bloody Roar. She can turn into a leopard, and is one of the most balanced fighters in the game. See, it's perfect."

"Sheena? Sheena...I like it! Guess there is something in that head besides dust balls."

"Hey, watch it pal. One tap of a button and I can download the entire series of the Teletubbies into your memory banks."

Sheena mimed shuddering, and the two burst out laughing. They finally clamed down, and Larry disconnected her from the link before going to the light switch. He flipped it, and suddenly the only light was coming from Sheena's blue eyes. She heard the springs in his bed creak, signalling he had climbed in.

"Goodnight Sheena, try not to power down too late. I'm going to need you at full strength for tomorrow"

"Okay. Larry?"

"..."

"Uh, Larry? You awake?"

Larry's sounded slightly aggravated as he replied "I am now. What is it?"

"I was just thinking...Why haven't you been able to find my medal in any of the Medabot Corporation's catalogues. I saw you looking earlier."

"I don't know, maybe it's so ancient they don't sell it anymore. Now, would you mind letting me get to sleep? Some of us don't have the luxury of a rechargeable battery."

"Larry, there aren't a whole lot of people who would have kept me around after that incident at school. Thanks."

"No problem. As long as we stick together, we'll be a hell of a team."

"I won't let you down, ever. With me, you'll never lose again. Goodnight, dude."

"'Night, Sheena."

After about five seconds, Larry's light snoring filled the room and Sheena slowly powered down, the light of her eyes growing steadily dimmer, until it finally went dark.


	3. The Taste of Victory

**Chapter Three: The Taste of Victory**

"Please, stop that, you're hurting my Medabot!"

The Bills were engaging in their usual holiday fun, namely hanging around the park and picking on anyone who looked weaker than them. It was once again going well, as they had defeated three other Medabots so far. Now, Hank was watching his Medabot repeatedly bang an eleven-year old boy's Medabot's head against the ground. The only problem was that a robattle was never initiated, and the Medabot had already ceased to function. Truly, it was a situation that filled the three of them with pleasure.

That was, until a missile from out of nowhere struck his Medabot and blew it off its defenceless opponent. As the trio swung around, they spotted the yellow Metabee they had demolished at school. Smoke was still hanging around from a recent Seeker blast.

**Sheena (Metabee)**

**Speciality: Shooting/Seeker Missiles/Healing**

**Type: KBT  Kabuto Beetle - Type**

**Medal: ???**

**Medafighter: Larry Linford**

"Hey, how about you pick on someone who can fight back."

Jeff laughed. "Oh, you're back for more? As far as I can see, all that's changed is your name. Well get this, you antique. You're still nothing. Zero, nada, zip!" As he said each word, he mimed a zero with his thumb and forefinger.

His wallowing was broken up by a voice coming from behind a tree. "An antique, you say? Now, now Jeff, no need for insults." Larry stepped into view, looking relaxed. "I remember saying that after I fixed her, I'd be back for you. So, how about it?"

"Oh, you're a big man now. Finally got her to listen to you?"

"You still haven't answered my question. You wouldn't happen to be scared, would you?"

Jeff's anger suddenly got the better of him. "I'm going to make sure there's nothing left of that Medabot when I'm done. Nunchar, go!"

"Sheena, evade left and fire. Target his legs, we need to slow him down."

Nunchar spun around and swung his sword at Sheena, which she quickly dodged. The sword dug itself into the ground and Sheena's rapid burst of laser fire caught it on the leg parts. Even with the damage, Nunchar easily evaded her next burst.

"You see?" Jeff shouted at Larry. "Your Medabot is too slow, it can't keep up. Nunchar, Shuriken shower!"

Nunchar appeared behind Sheena and fired three shurikens in quick succession. Sheena blasted two to the ground, but one caught her on the leg, knocking her to the floor.

"Alright Nunchar, finish her with a mirage attack."

"Sheena, don't move, alright? Stay put."

Nunchar's mirage manoeuvre was a dangerous technique, and Larry had seen it knock many Medabots out in one swoop. In it, Nunchar sped in a circle around his opponent, seemingly splitting into three different copies of himself. While his opponent frantically tried to attack the shadow images, Nunchar built up more power. Finally, all the images darted in, converging back into one, and Nunchar struck with an overhead sweep, pretty much destroying his opponent.

He started this ritual in the same manner, and Larry knew he had about forty seconds before the move hit. Nunchar split into three images, and Sheena tried to land a shot on them. None of her blasts hit.

"Larry, what now?"

"Hold on Sheena, I'm working on something."

"Well, work faster! I am not losing to this idiot again."

Larry looked at his medawatch, trying to see something that could help him. "Slow, three frames a second." The Nunchars slowed on his medawatch, blurring back into one. "Pause." He saw Nunchar pause for a fraction of a second to charge more power into his sword. "Play again. Display target speed and time lapse." Every half-second, Nunchar paused to charge, his speed dropping from one hundred and twenty miles an hour to one.

"Sheena! Face forward, and ready laser cannons."

"Yeah, sure. One problem, I'm down to one shot."

"Don't worry, one shot is all you'll need. On my mark, aim at leg height and fire. Now!"

The shot went off, and a dull metal clang echoed through the park. The whirl of dust that had been Nunchar a second ago was now gone. Instead, Nunchar was speeding through the air and connected headlong with one of the metal swings. Sheena's shot had managed to knock the fragile balance of his rapidly moving legs out of sync, resulting in a hundred and twenty miles of speed suddenly changing to the world's fastest ever stumble.

Jeff began screaming at his critically damaged Medabot. "Nunchar! Fire shurikens, blow her to bits!"

"Evade, Sheena! Worm pattern!"

"No way, not the Worm," She looked up to see about a dozen shurikens coming for her. "Oh man!" She dived forward, skidding on her stomach, the shurikens passing over her. She leapt to her feet some two feet from Nunchar and cracked her knee into his head as she went by.

"Okay, let's finish this. Sheena, Seeker Missiles!"

"Yeah-Yeah!"

Sheena skidded to halt, and flipped around. Two puffs of smoke came from her launchers and two missiles came flying out. They struck Nunchar, and it keeled over. The medal ejected, making a small tinkling sound as it hit the path.

_Nunchar: One hundred Percent damage. Function ceased._

Larry and Sheena looked at each other, both content with their victory. However, Jeff, who yelled at his teammates, quickly broke it.

"Are you two just going to stand there!? If we let that punk leave in one piece, we'll be the laughing stock of the school! Get him!"

Kara transported in her own Medabot, whilst Hank's quickly came over from where it had been standing since Sheena had blown it away.

"Oh boy, get ready Sheena. These guys aren't meaning to let us leave here."

"I'm ready for them, but what about my ammunition crisis?"

"Easy. I'll transport you some more. They haven't started a robattle yet, so I won't be breaking any rules," Larry tapped a few buttons on his medawatch, and five bright lights surrounded her laser cannon, refilling it.

"Ahh, much better. Maybe I should heal myself as well."

"You can do that?"

"Sure. See that little indicator on the screen? Those are the amount of charges I have left. Watch."

A bright green light surrounded her for a few seconds, and when it vanished, her damage was instantly removed.

"Alright, let's take them. Yo, which of you two bozos am I going to be wiping the floor with next?"

Hank stepped forward. "Me. And don't get too cocky, cause I'll give you more than you bargained for. Granitedon, take care of this."

Granitedon was a huge, rhino shaped  Medabot, probably as tall as his medafighter, and just as strong. It was quite slow, but the punch it packed was not to be laughed at. One solid strike from it could easily shatter the body of the unfortunate target.

Granitedon 

**Speciality: Body Tackle attack**

**Type: RHN – Rhino Type**

**Medal: Cyclops**

**Medafighter: Hank**

Granitedon revved its tracked wheels and lunged forwards at Sheena. She easily sidestepped it and fired a Seeker at Granitedon's exposed back. It exploded, but when the smoke cleared, there wasn't a scratch on it.

"Sheena, the armour is too thick for any of your weapons to penetrate. Can you see something else?"

"I'll check, just give me a few minutes."

Larry looked up from the battle as Hank started laughing. "And just what is so funny?"

"You're depending on your Medabot to tell you what to do. What kind of medafighter are you?"

"One who trusts his Medabot. Anything yet Sheena?"

"Nope. Only thing that looks weird is the tracks. Seems Hank over there forgot to give his Medabot a check-up in the last few months. They've come loose slightly."

An idea suddenly hit him. "Sheena, lead him over to that embankment by the pond. We're about to see if Granitedon floats or sinks."

Sheena jumped as Granitedon sped up because of the slope and nearly ran her down. _I hope Larry knows what he's doing. That thing missed me by the skin on my teeth…Well, he would have if I had any._

"Larry, you still there? This thing is getting ready to turn me into roadkill."

His voice now came in over the medawatch, as the battle had taken them far from the medafighters. __

_"Alright, can you get a lock on the bolts holding the tracks to his wheels?"_

"Sure. Mind telling me the plan?"

"The ground is very slippery down there. You might be able to stand there, as well as Granitedon, as long as he keeps his tracks on. But, what do you think would happen if those wheels started skidding on the embankment?"

As she drew a bead on Granitedon, who was charging her down, she clicked. "Oh, I get it. Hey, pal, that's a pretty deep pond. Hope you learnt how to doggie-paddle."

She spoke these words as she fired her laser burst. It hit all along the left track, and it blew off, leaving two smooth alloy wheels trying to keep traction on the slope. With the imbalance on the left side, the right side tried to compensate. But, as it tipped towards the pond, Sheena helped Granitedon down with a shoulder barge.

She started walking back towards her medafighter after hearing a very satisfying splash. "Two down, one to go. You're not too bad at this, you know that Larry?"

Larry chuckled softly. _"Hope the people down in hell have blanketed up. Sheena just gave me a compliment."_

Larry looked from Sheena coming up the embankment, back to the Bills, two of who were sporting very unhappy expressions. But, he knew the real challenge was still ahead.

Kara had an extremely average Medabot, but that didn't really matter. What mattered was the fact that she was able to pick apart her opponent's strategies and strengths, while focussing on their weak points. Her entire battle plan was based on being able to interpret her opponent's next move.

She smiled scornfully at Larry. "Hope you can wait for a few minutes before losing. I need to discuss something with Fellyne"

"Sure, take all the time you need."

He crouched down and conferred with Sheena. "I told you about her, right?"

Sheena nodded, looking over to Kara, who was whispering to Fellyne and gesturing in their general direction.

"Yeah, the brainiac. The one who's supposed to be able to figure out what my next move will be. So, how do we beat her?"

"We can't."

"Say WHAT? Are you telling me there's no way we can beat her?"

Larry smiled in a slightly morose way as he regarded his Medabot. "Well, I can't. I don't have enough experience to out-think her. Maybe in a few months, but right now, I don't have a chance. But, that doesn't mean YOU can't beat her."

"Mind running that be me one more time? You can't beat her, but I can?"

"That's right. She's probably seen all the things I can do as your medafighter, so we'll lose if I go in commanding you. But, I'm not going to be giving any orders; you're going to be battling on your own. I think you're the most impulsive, unpredictable Medabot I've ever seen, and this time I mean it in a good way."

"I see where you're going with this. You think that going in without a single planned move will give us the edge we need. That it? Well, it won't be too difficult. Don't worry Larry; I'm not about to lose on number ninety-nine."

With that, she got up from her sitting position and strode out to meet Fellyne. Fellyne was a cat shaped Medabot, with jagged claws protruding from each hand. The problem with average Medabots were, as Larry knew, they had no particular strengths, but it also made it near impossible to find a weakness.

Fellyne 

**Speciality: Cat Claw Combo**

**Type: FLN Cat – Type**

**Medal: Queen**

**Medafighter: Kara**

Fellyne pointed one claw at Sheena. "I hope you're not really getting your hopes up about beating me. My medafighter has never been out-thought in a robattle."

Sheena shrugged, not taking her eyes off her opponent. "Remember what they say, girlfriend. The longer a good thing has been going on, the harder the fall is going to be. Now get that claw out of my face, unless you want to lose it."

"I've seen over a hundred victories, and when I do lose one day, it isn't going to be to a museum piece like you."

Kara listened to this exchange with an expression of mild amusement. She had been analysing Larry's style for the past two battles, and had to admit he showed some skill.

But, she was still better.

"Larry, I've got to compliment you. It's not every medafighter who gets past these two to fight me. However, I'm afraid this is the end of the road."

Larry, instead of responding, merely plopped down on the ground, leaning his back against the tree. He looked like he was ready to take a leisurely nap instead of robattle. He smiled a smile that was a trifle too wide to be fake, and Kara suddenly felt a little a little of her confidence evaporate.

"And what are you doing? Are you just going to give up?"

"I might as well, I mean, you DO have my entire battle plan figured out. Would it help if I change my strategy?"

Kara felt her confidence return. He was just being smart, knowing he couldn't beat her. "You could try, but you wouldn't really be using a different strategy. Once a medafighter chooses a style, he never really deviates from it."

"Well, that's too bad. What, oh what shall I do?" He paused momentarily to remove his medawatch, before continuing. "Hypothetically, Kara, suppose this: You've got my style figured out completely, right? In fact, the only thing teeming throughout your mind is how to counter every one of MY moves. What would happen if a completely different medafighter jumped in right now?"

Kara threw her head back and laughed. "Yes, in a hypothetical world, where it could happen, I suppose I would be badly beaten. After all, even my mind can't calculate that fast. But, this is no hypothetical world. Now, I'll just trounce your Medabot and be on my way."

Larry nodded. "True, this isn't a hypothetical world. But, Kara, there is another person whose about to fight you, and there's no way you'll have enough time to counter their strategy."

With a fake look of fear on her face, she replied, "Oh, where is this terrible person? Are you about to break the rules and let someone else interfere? Go ahead, and prove what an amateur you are. Where are you, my mystery opponent?"

At this, Sheena launched herself at Fellyne, yelling, "Right here, miss Ego!"

Fellyne had enough time to throw up an arm to block Sheena's attack, but her opponent's strike still had enough force behind it to knock her to the ground. Then. Sheena was on her, hammering away at Fellyne's head with her fists.

"Yeah, how do you like that? Not so much fun when you're the one at the bottom."

Fellyne managed to scramble out from underneath Sheena, and ran to Kara. "What are you trying to do, Kara? You're just standing there. Tell me what to do!"

"I…Give me some time. I wasn't expecting this."

It was true enough. Larry's plan had caught her completely offside, and she wasn't prepared for the change in tactics. But, she thought, how much imagination could a simple Medabot have?

"Yo, Cat-Girl, heads up!"

Sheena was once more barrelling straight for Fellyne, and suddenly Kara understood. This Medabot was too hotheaded to have a strategy, so her main advantage had slipped away. She would have to fight in a way she detested – On the fly.

"Fellyne, swerve right and counter with a grappling attack." 

Fellyne cut to the right, avoiding a rapid discharge of laser fire from Sheena, before veering back in and grasping her around the waist. With one heave, she sent Sheena flying a short distance before crashing into the ground.

"Now, Fellyne, finish her off with a claw combo!"

Fellyne was airborne, and before Sheena could react, Fellyne was pounding her with four solid right punches. She staggered up, but Fellyne landed the final hit of her combo, namely a double fisted blow to her head. She dropped to her knees, seemingly defeated.

"Yes! No KBT type could stand up to that attack. Well Larry, where's your brilliant plan gotten you?"

Larry mimed a yawn. "I think you're celebrating a little too early. Take a look."

She followed the direction of his pointing, which led back to his Medabot. Sheena was back up. Battered? Yes. Bruised? Definitely. Beaten? Hell no!

Kara watched Sheena get up, her mouth agape. She quickly barked a command into her medawatch.

"List statistics for standard Metabee and Metabee registered as Sheena."

The statistics were all normal, except that when it came to matching the defence statistic, the medawatch let out a loud beep and displayed the following message: _Error in matching defence values. Standard Metabee: 130 – Sheena: 170_

"What's causing this?"

Defence increase is standard to Medabots equipped with the Mermaid medal. However, probability of Mermaid medal inside Sheena is one in three thousand. All other attributes are modelled after a Metabee with the recommended medal: Hercules Beetle.

"No, that can't be possible. What did he do to his Medabot?"

Before she could do anything else, Fellyne struck the ground next to her. Sheena stood at the other end of the playground, dusting off her hands. As she looked down, Fellyne's medal ejected and her medawatch beeped the irrevocable proof that she had just lost.

_Fellyne: 100% damage. Function Ceased._

Larry quietly breathed a sigh of relief that no one saw. Despite his lackadaisical approach to the last battle, he had been worried about Sheena. But, she had not disappointed him. Now, he ran over to his Medabot and grabbed her, lifting her up in the air.

"You did it! Sheena, we beat them!"

She replied in an annoyed tone, but Larry could tell she was as pleased as he was. "Yo, pal, you're ruining my image here. Now, how about we go home and celebrate."

"I'll do you one better. Let's go to Jane's and get you fixed up. And who knows, there might be a new part in it for you."

"Whoa, two great ideas in the last twenty-four hours. Slow down, Larry. You shouldn't tax yourself this much."

Larry laughed softly, all the tension of the last hour lifting from his shoulders. "Walk, before I decide to trade you in for an electric scooter. They're faster, can take you places, and they don't think they're comedians,"

As he walked past Kara, he stopped. She was busy replacing Fellyne's medal. "I think you're an extremely gifted medafighter, Kara. I just wish you would act like one. What you're doing now…It isn't going to get you anywhere."

She looked at him, and he was shocked to see that she was crying. "Don't think you're great just because you beat me. When you're not looking, I'll make sure that you regret this. Now, get out of here."

Larry shrugged. "Do you even still enjoy being a medafighter? From what I've seen, you've lost sight of the most important part of robattles: Fun."

"Get out of here!"

Hank called from where he was standing. "Is that punk giving you trouble, Kara? I'll level him if you want."

"No, Hank. He was just leaving."

Larry turned to leave, but before he did, he spoke one last time. "I'll be happy to fight you again one day. In fact, if you fight fairly, and as Kara the medafighter, instead of Kara of the Bills, I would consider it an honour. But, that's just a suggestion. Sheena, let's go!"

With that, the victorious Larry left, head held high and his Medabot beside him. It was their first victory as a team, and who knew how many might still lie ahead.


	4. Medaforce Away

**Chapter Four: Medaforce Away!**

Larry stopped dead in his tracks as he entered Jane's store. It was quite literally, packed to the rafters. He could see Jane running around, finding parts and handing them to other customers. And even though she looked exhausted, she seemed to be having the time of her life. He and Sheena waited until the crowd had abated slightly, and then walked to the counter.

"Looks like business is booming. Guess we've been hit by Medabot fever."

She came back from one of the shelves behind the counter and smiled. "Larry, how are you doing? Did you have a problem with the medal?"

Larry shook his head. "No, no problems. In fact, I remember you saying that if I did get that Medabot working, I should come and pay you a visit so you can meet her."

"Well, I'm about to close the shop for a few minutes to have some tea. Would you like to join me?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll just call Sheena. Hey, Sheena! Get your lazy butt in here and introduce yourself. If it wasn't for Jane, you'd have been turned into a toaster or something by this time."

Sheena strolled in from outside, hands once more laced behind her head. Her eyes were still slightly narrowed by the afterglow of her victory, and she gamely shook Jane's hand.

Larry sat on top of the counter and pulled Sheena up. They watched Jane go over to the door, and she was about to close the door when something caught her attention. He couldn't see very well from his vantage point, but it looked like she was talking to someone.

"I'm sorry, I'm closing for the next half-hour. Come back at one."

A reply, which he couldn't hear, and then she shot the two of them a troubled glance. "I don't see how it concerns you if the two of them are in here. Now, would you please leave," Another reply. "I am warning you, if you don't get out of here, I'll call the police."

Larry gave Sheena one glance and the two of them jumped off the counter. Sheena ran ahead, but Larry had scarcely made it to the door when she was blown back in. Jane gave a small shout of surprise and fell down. Through the door came Granitedon and Nunchar. Both were barrelling towards Sheena, and it was apparent they had less than noble intentions.

Sheena ducked behind the counter as Nunchar fired a torrent of shurikens at her. "Hey, two-on-one is against Medabot Federation rules. Larry, we have a problem."

Larry looked up from where he had been helping Jane get up. "I know, I know. And you're still damaged from Fellyne's attack. Can you heal yourself?"

"I could, but my healing isn't meant to replace repairs. I could probably knock about sixty percent of this damage off, but if these two are going to be fighting dirty, it won't be enough."

"Alright, do it and then head outside the store. I don't want us smashing up Jane's stuff."

A dull green glow came from behind the counter and Larry ran outside. As soon as he stepped outside, he saw Hank and Jeff, both with identical grins on their faces.

"What are you two thinking? You're really that obsessed with winning that you'll break the rules and risk getting expelled from the WMA?"

The WMA was the World Medafighter Association, an arm of the Medabot Federation. It kept track of every single medafighter, their robattles, wins, losses...And infringements. If you seriously broke the rules and they expelled you, your respect in the Medabot community would be nil. You also risked having your Medabot taken away, and getting blacklisted. Get put on the blacklist, and you're forbidden from ever owning a Medabot again.

Jeff replied in a small, mocking voice. "Oh dear, get expelled? I don't care, and neither does Hank or Kara. We don't need respect, fear is a better alternative."

"I'm not seeing Kara around. How sure are you about that?"

"She's the leader! Do you think we'd do anything without her permission?"

"And the blacklist? Being allowed no Medabots puts a mild dent in your vision, don't you think?"

"Hello, we're rich! My dad makes more money in a day than your little league father ever will. Anything can be found or arranged for the right price."

Sheena suddenly came bolting out the door, Granitedon following close behind her. She stopped abruptly and flipped backwards. She landed behind Granitedon, but before she could fire, Nunchar appeared next to her and sent her flying with a sweep of his sword. She hit the ground with a dull thud, but managed to scramble up to avoid Nunchar's leap at her. But she didn't have enough time to recover before Granitedon struck her with the full force of his body tackle.

She collided with one of the junked cars standing around the yard, her body smashing into it with enough force to leave a sizeable dent in the door. Larry's Medawatch squalled out a warning in a much louder manner than usual.

_Sheena: All weapons systems off-line. Arms - Function Ceased. Left Leg - Function Ceased. Head part - 93% damage. Core circuits overheating. Be advised that any further damage might cause irreparable harm._

Larry ran over to her, any thoughts of robattling driven from his mind. Kneeling down, he lifted her into a sitting position.

"Hey, Sheena...You still okay?"

She rested her head against the car, looking at him. "Sorry about that. I promised you I'd never let you down, and now I've gone and done just that."

Larry patted her on the back. "Hey, you didn't let me down in any way. No one would have been able to last that long against two Medabots. Besides, I bet if you were running at full, you'd be throwing them around like stuffed toys."

"Appreciate the sentiment..."

Jeff interrupted her. "Oh, please, you're going to make me cry. Nunchar, let's mess up their little moment. Take out Sheena."

Nunchar raised his arms, the shuriken launchers warming up. It seemed to Larry that everything slowed down. He saw the sun glinting off Nunchar and Granitedon. He saw Jeff's sneer widen, to the extent that it looked in danger of slipping off his face. He heard Hank yelling some obscenity at Sheena. He saw Jane in the doorway, a look of horror on her face as she watched these events unfold. He glanced back and saw Sheena narrowing her eyes and awaiting the impact. When time had resumed its normal speed, Larry had already made his decision.

Immediately, he stooped down to his knees and draped his body over his Medabot.

"Larry, what...Get off me, you're going to get hurt!"

"They're not going to destroy you, not on my watch."

Jeff didn't seem to mind Larry being in the way. "Nunchar, fire!"

The next moment, the shurikens hit Larry's back with a sickening, dull puncturing sound.

Medabot weapons were never meant to be used humans. They could hurt you, but were far from deadly. Nunchar's shurikens were an exception, though. They were sharpened to an incredibly sharp edge, and could slice through thin sheets of steel. Also, they were extremely heavy.

However, Larry was lucky, as the shurikens had been fired from so far, the velocity had been reduced by quite a bit. That still didn't mean it was any easier on him, as getting an inch of steel stuck in your back is definitely not pleasant.

Sheena heard Larry whisper, "Damn, that hurt..." and then he dropped next to her. His white shirt was rapidly being dyed red by the thin rivulets of blood beginning to leak from the wounds on his back. She turned on her one good leg and saw his face had gone pale; the only colour left being in his cheeks.

He slowly opened his one eye, pain evident in his eyes. "Hey, you're still okay, right?"

Sheena banged his head gently with her fist. "You idiot! You numbskull! Why in the hell did you do that? You could have been killed. Jeff...He saw you were there and he still fired..."

"Sheena, calm down. I'm still fine, so just chill..."

Sheena was now fuming. Rage was boiling deep down inside her, rising like an active volcano. "No, I'm not going to chill! They could have killed you, understand? It's reckless, it's wrong," She turned to Jeff and Hank, both of whom looked to be in high spirits. "You two, you're animals! You don't even deserve to be called medafighters."

Hank simpered, regarding her with disdain. "Ooh, I'm so scared. Man, your medafighter is the worst I've ever seen. What kid of person risks himself for a machine?"

Larry interposed, pulling himself into a standing position. "She's not just a machine, Hank. She's more a person than you'll ever be. If I had another chance, I'd do it again."

Both burst out laughing, Jeff draping himself over Hank to try and catch his breath. When they were finished, Jeff raised his Medawatch again.

"Hank, let's scrap them both. We'll junk his Medabot and send Mister Friendship over there to the emergency ward."

"Good idea. Granitedon, you go for Larry. Try to crack at least three ribs."

"Nunchar, make sure that Metabee stays down for good this time."

Larry started to worry, because these two were crazy, and meant to do what they had said.

Sheena was standing a few feet in front of him, head bowed and her shoulders shaking slightly. He wanted called her back, but she seemed lost in a world of her own.

Despite the impending danger, Sheena didn't move. Thoughts were running through her head at the speed of light.

**"No problem. As long as we stick together, we'll be a hell of a team."**

_Larry, you gave me a second chance, even after I behaved like a spoilt child._

**"You're depending on your Medabot to tell you what to do. What kind of medafighter are you?"**

**"One who trusts his Medabot..."**

_Trust too. _

**"I think you're the most impulsive, unpredictable Medabot I've ever seen, and this time I mean it in a good way."**

_Heh, you can even make a Medabot feel great while you're pointing out their flaws_

**"You did it! Sheena, we beat them!"**

_No one can beat you for enthusiasm. You can celebrate the good, and accept the bad. _

**"Larry, what...Get off me, you're going to get hurt!"**

**"They're not going to destroy you, not on my watch."**

_I can't see any casual medafighter doing that for his Medabot. _

**"She's not just a machine, Hank. She's more a person than you'll ever be..."**

_No, it's not going to happen. I'm not going to let them do this, I'm not about to let them hurt you or destroy me. This...This has gone far enough! I'm going to put a stop to this right now!_

Sheena suddenly yelled at the top of her voice. "I'm ending this right here, right now! I've stood here and let you hurt my medafighter...No, he's more than that. He's my friend. And I...Won't...Watch this anymore! YAAGH!"

A bright blue light suddenly erupted from her, causing Hank and Jeff to halt their Medabots. She lifted her head, regarding her opponents with a gaze that had absolutely no mercy in it.

"Alright boys, let's dance...Medaforce!"

She brought down her laser cannon and an immense beam of blue energy burst forth, hurtling towards Granitedon and Nunchar. Hank and Jeff commanded them to back off, but it was too late. The beam struck both of them, and when it cleared, the duo of Medabots was lying on the ground, out of commission.

Jeff's mouth was agape. "What, what was that?"

Hank could only mutter something that sounded like "Bluh-Bluh?"

Larry stared at his Medabot, the pain in his back forgotten momentarily. "That was unreal."

Sheena gave a small sigh of respite, before tottering ungainly and collapsing on her face. Larry made it over to her and rolled her over. She looked as tired as a Medabot could look. His Medawatch showed that all her power, including the reserves, had been drained.

"Sheena, that was amazing! What was that thing?"

"A plug, a plug, my kingdom for a plug!"

Larry laughed, relief and pain simultaneously flooding his mind. A bolt of lightning suddenly ripped the sky in two, and a hard downpour started. He picked her up and started carrying her back to Jane's store. But, he still had a few words for Hank and Jeff.

"Get lost, both of you. I don't know if you two realise it, but you nearly committed murder today. Your fathers could get you a lighter sentence, but you definitely will not come off looking good. If you ever come near Sheena or me ever again, I'll make sure you fry. Not only do I have Jane's testimony, Sheena has the entire thing recorded in her memory banks."

The two seemed to understand his reasoning and wasted no time in getting out. The moment they left, Larry resumed taking Sheena back into the store. As he placed her on the workbench, a sharp twinge reminded him of the fact that he still had two razor sharp pieces of metal stuck in his back.


	5. History Lesson

**The Will of the Medafighter: The Precursor Archives**

**Written by Hyper Mystic Gohan**

**Chapter Five: History Lesson**

"Doing this slowly isn't going to work. Larry, just bear with me for another second."

"Just what are you plan...Yow!"

"There. Now that wasn't so bad, was it?"

Jane tossed the two bloodied shurikens onto the workbench beside her and wiped her hands on a cloth. She had wanted to tend to Larry at once, but he had insisted she fix Sheena first. As a result, the blood had already dried and tissue had started forming again.

This, of course, led to lots of fun when she had to remove them.

Now that they were out, she could finally see the damage. "This isn't too severe, but I'm going to have to disinfect it. You're going to have the scars for a while though, but they won't be noticeable unless someone sees your back from real close. You're extremely lucky, you know that?"

Larry blew out the breath he had been holding in. "Yeah, I guess I am."

Jane giggled. "I'll go get the stuff and patch you right up. And I don't think I'll charge you."

"Thanks Jane, you're a lifesaver."

She stood up and went to her storeroom to find her first-aid kit. While she was gone, Sheena ambled up and took a look at the two hunks of metal lying on the bench.

"Man, those things would have been the end of me. You're one crazy son-of-a-gun, you know that?"

Larry smiled as he replied. "Well, I got a crazy Medabot to go with it. How are you feeling?"

"Me? Good as new. Jane's really good at her job."

Larry was about to reply when he was interrupted by a knock on the door. "Go see who that is, Sheena."

Sheena hopped off and looked through the glass. She suddenly took a step back. "Oh man. Larry, it's that Alexis chick and her Medabot. They must be here to try and finish what those other two started."

Larry considered for a second, before nodding to himself. "Open up, let them in."

Sheena's voice was incredulous. "Are you stupid? Man, you must have lost more blood than I thought, because your brain is definitely not getting enough oxygen."

"Sheena, let her in. It's pouring outside, and I don't think she'd come out in this weather just to try and beat me."

"Oh," Sheena replied sarcastically. "And what is she doing here then? Selling Girl Scout cookies?"

"Well, we won't know unless you let her in." Larry's eyes suddenly narrowed mischievously. "That is, unless you're scared of Fellyne."

His Medabot spun around and shook her fist at him. "I'm not scared of that pussy cat. Fine, I'll let them in."

She unlocked the door and a sopping wet Alexis and Fellyne stumbled in. Fellyne shook herself down like a dog and looked up at her medafighter.

"Man, I hate this kind of weather."

Alexis ignored her and spotted Larry sitting on the workbench. "Larry? Please tell me that Hank and Jeff were lying about what they did to you."

Sheena spoke from behind the door, making her jump. "What, you mean that they tried to scrap me, while fighting two-on-one, and then performed some interesting vertebrae surgery on my friend with Medabot weapons? Nah, that's just your average made-up story. And from what they told us, you were in on it as well, so just be glad of the fact that Larry told me to leave you two alone."

Alexis and Fellyne both stared at her, shock and surprise on both their faces. Larry could tell it was genuine, and knew that neither had anything to do with what had happened this afternoon.

However, it was clear that Sheena was not going to lay off them. "Don't go acting all surprised. You nearly killed someone this afternoon, Alexis, and for what? A stupid grudge? At least those two had the guts to come here, not like you who waited for the dirty work to be done for you."

Alexis was pretty close to tears now, and Larry had seen enough. "Sheena, stop it."

"M-U-R-D-E-R. What does that spell, kiddies? It spells twenty-five to life..."

"Sheena! Cut it out, right now!" Larry roared at her, his voice echoing sharply through the workshop. She turned from the two and looked at him with ill-concealed anger. Larry motioned for her to come closer. "Look, she didn't know anything about this afternoon, let alone plan it."

"Oh, please. You're just a sucker for a pretty face and a few crocodile tears. You heard what they said, they wouldn't do anything without her permission."

"Please, Sheena, just give her a chance. I want to hear her side of the story. Take Fellyne and go see what's taking Jane so long to get that first-aid kit. I'm not really in the mood for my back to start festering."

"Okay, but if she tries anything, just give a shout and I'll come running. Yo, cat-girl!" She turned to Fellyne. "We've got to go check on something."

Fellyne didn't really seem to be in the mood for listening to Sheena. "Oh, is that a fact? And just what would that be?"

"A few things to fix the damage your friends did to Larry. That is, unless you're scared that I might jump you when your back is turned. Don't worry, this afternoon should have been enough to prove that I can beat you without doing that."

"Why you..." Fellyne was about to spring into action when Alexis's hand dropped on her shoulder. She looked at her medafighter, who nodded.

Sheena saw this and said "Great. Now that you have your permission, are we going to get going?"

"Fine. Alexis, if that guy tries anything, just call me and I'll come running."

The two walked into the storeroom, eyeing each other with such open suspicion, it was actually funny to look at.

Smiling, Larry watched the two leave the room. When they were gone, he pushed himself off the counter and went over to Alexis.

"Here," he said, digging in his pocket and bringing out a creased handkerchief. "Don't worry, it's never been used. It only looks like that because I never bother checking my pockets before washing my clothes."

She gave him a small smile and dried her eyes. "Thanks. Your Medabot is really...Something else."

"Oh, Sheena's very opinionated. I've only had her for five days, but that's one thing I know for sure. Come on, have a seat. That workbench is actually really comfortable, and I promise I won't do anything that will warrant you having to call Fellyne."

When they were seated, she told him how she had found out about what happened. "After you beat me this morning, I had Fellyne repaired and went home. I got there and immediately started working on a way to beat you and Sheena. But, as time went by, I started thinking about what you told me.

"About you not enjoying robattles anymore?"

"That's right. I called Fellyne and asked her if she remembered us robattling before we started our little group."

"And?"

Alexis grinned sadly. "She said: 'I won't lie to you, Alexis. I enjoyed it a lot more back then. If we need to fight for power, I'm not going to argue with that, but it sure as hell isn't any fun.' Turns out she had felt like that for a long time, but didn't want to say anything. Right then I stopped any other planning and decided to do something I hadn't done in a long time."

"What would that be?"

"To relax. I had never taken a few minutes out since those two decided to make me their leader. So there I was, just lying on my bed and enjoying a book, when Hank and Jeff came in. They looked rattled, but also very happy."

"Yeah," Larry replied grimly, looking at the two shurikens still beside him. "When Nunchar blasted me, they had the biggest grins I've ever seen on their faces. Guess it must have been really funny to see a guy get perforated on behalf of a machine."

"Sorry," She replied in a small voice. "I'm serious that I didn't have anything to do with it."

"I believe you, so there's no need to start crying again. Carry on with your story."

"Of course. I was curious about what could have put them in such a good mood, as they were even angrier than me about losing. I asked what had happened, and Jeff told me that they had gone out to get revenge for what had happened this morning. They related the story in great detail, maybe a little too much when it came to your injury."

"I'll bet. They tell you what happened afterwards?"

"They said the owner of the shop called the police and they had to get out. When they finished talking, they looked like they were waiting for me to give them an award or something. Instead, I told them to get the hell out of my house."

"I'm guessing they didn't like that."

"You guessed right."

Outside, the rain had stopped falling, and Alexis got off the workbench. "I'd best be going. Larry, thanks for understanding." Larry walked with her to the door, where she turned to him one last time.

"If they're still willing to listen to me after today, I'll tell them to leave you two alone. Fellyne!" Larry suddenly heard a crash from the storeroom, and a dusty Fellyne, Jane and Sheena emerged. "Let's go, we've kept him long enough."

Larry watched Alexis leave and suddenly had a feeling that their paths might cross in a robattle again someday.

"I've got the first-aid kit now."

Larry hopped back onto the workbench and regarded the dust-covered duo with a mildly sardonic look. "I assume that it was easy to find once you three had had enough of eavesdropping." Jane went red, and Sheena would have, if she could. "Next time you decide to do it, try to talk a little softer amongst yourself."

Sheena shook her head disbelievingly. "You couldn't have heard us. Colombo over there probably just made a lucky guess."

Larry grinned. "Well, if you say so. Oh, and Jane. I do think Alexis and me would make a cute couple, but Sheena was right, in that we might let some sort of rivalry come between us. And I've got to say that Fellyne has an extremely broad vocabulary, considering some of the things she called the two of you."

That silenced both of them, and he spent the next few minutes getting his wound cleaned and bandaged up.

Jane slipped the things back into one of the drawers on the table. "Now, I think I could do with that cup of tea. How about you, Larry?"

"It's called the Medaforce," Jane told them as she stared into the depths of her cup. "The first thing a Medabot requires is a rare medal. After that, there has to be a very strong bond between it and its medafighter. Finally, add a burst of pure emotion and, voila, you get the Medaforce, the strongest attack a Medabot has."

Sheena leapt up at this. "See, Larry? I told you that with me around, you would never have to worry about losing a match."

Jane held up her hand. "You didn't let me finish. Larry, as you saw, all of her power had been drained. If Sheena hadn't managed to get both those Medabots in one blast, I would still be picking her, and most probably you, off the ground."

Sheena stopped her celebration and flopped back onto her chair. "Sure," She mumbled, sourly. "Just kill my joy, why don't you."

Larry smiled at this, before taking a sip of his hot chocolate. He put down the cup. "But, Jane, Sheena doesn't have a rare medal. Those are the medals that the Medabot Corporation supposedly uses to clone the mass-production medals, right? Well, I did a search through their archives, including the information on their rare medals. Sheena's just wasn't there."

"Were there any archives you skipped?"

"Only the geological and archaeological sections. I didn't really need information about stuff they were digging up in Peru."

"Ahh, you were wrong there," Jane reached onto the table behind her and pulled out a stack of papers. "That's exactly where I hit paydirt on Sheena's medal. Here, you keep this to read at home, but I'll give you the gist of it. Sheena's medal is what's called the 'Melded medal', which, according to the scriptures in the ruins in Peru, is the creator of the rare medals."

"Come again? The _creator _of the rare medals?"

"It's all in there. I can't quite remember the rest of it. Larry, I think I'm going to have to end our little conversation. It's already past one, and I think I hear some angry customers outside."

Larry stood up, still reading the papers. "Yeah...Sure. Sheena, let's go."

Sheena was regarding her medafighter with some concern when they got outside. "Hey, you look pretty zoned out. You okay?"

"No, not really. I just lost the feeling in my legs..."

"Huh?"

Larry just stood there, scanning the page. With each passing sentence, his eyes grew wider, until he reached the final paragraph.

"Oh...Geez..."


	6. Heading For The National Championships

**The Will of the Medafighter: The Precursor Archives**

**Written by Hyper Mystic Gohan**

**Chapter Six: Heading for the National Championship**

Larry lay on his bed, his hands laced behind his head as he stared at the ceiling. He could hear Sheena playing PS2 in the living room and wondered once more about the things he had read in the document. He picked it up from the floor beside his bed and scanned through it one more time, even though he had read it enough times to know it off by heart.

The first page was simply a letter from the lead archaeologist, which included an inventory of the things they had found in their dig. Amongst these were several translated texts from the walls of the temple.

Larry paged over and the first text was supposedly from the priest of a people who had died long ago. He stated that the thousand years of prosperity had been ended, and that the people's thirst for battle had finally become too great. Civil war had broken out, and if it did not stop soon, their creators might have to take drastic steps to end it. The text ended with a prayer by the priest, who wished for the fighting to end, and for his people to once more become peaceful.

The second page was a set of drawings that had been taken from the same room as the priest's verbiage. One showed a group of rioting people, who looked suspiciously like Medabots (_Screw that idea..._Larry thought tiredly. _Those _are _Medabots_) burning houses and fighting with each other. Even though it was only a drawing, Larry could almost hear the noises of battle, the smell of burning thatch.

The second text was taken from the main room of the temple. It was allegedly written by the "Creators" referred to in the previous transcript. The first entry seemed to be before the civil war, as the creators talked about their people flourishing, using the powers they had granted them wisely.

After that, the entries become bleaker, as they tell of how a group of people had decided to use their powers to gain revenge on a rival village that had been taking over the grazing grounds. That village retaliated in turn, causing friends from the first village to come to their aid. Eventually, it degenerated into war, the once beautiful and fertile country reduced to a wasteland from the fighting.

The Creators were unable to get the groups to stop warring through normal means, and at one point, it seemed as though the two would be drawn into opposite camps as well. Finally, they chose to stop the fighting, before it engulfed the entire planet.

They decided together, to unseal the ultimate power that only they had access to. Using it, they obliterated their own country and most of their people. Those who survived realised their folly, but it was too late. The Creators decided that their people's time was over, and sealed away the souls of those who remained, deep below the ground. Then, they split the power between the two of them, each receiving half, and then they fused together, ensuring the power could never be used unless both of them were present. Then, they sealed themselves away as well, their people forever wiped from the earth.

Then there was the part that disturbed him the most. Below this was a drawing of the "Soul" of the creator. It was a double sided medal, almost the same as Sheena's. The exception was that this one had a full picture on each side, while hers had half a picture on the front and the strange corrosion on the back.

The last page. It was a prophecy, made by the priest who also wrote the first text. He recorded it shortly before he too was sealed away.

**That which was once buried, will be exhumed**

**That which once created, will awake**

**That which was burnt, will be reformed**

**In the time when the world is close to its end**

**The chosen ones**

**Will become one**

**Unsealing the ultimate power with it**

**And bring salvation...or destruction**

With a yell, he flung the report across his room, where it struck Sheena, who had just entered, in the head.

"What the?" She picked it up and recognised it immediately. She looked across at Larry. "Oh man, you're not still brooding over this thing? Larry, it's ancient mumbo-jumbo."

He sat up and looked back at her. "Sheena, I don't want to believe this either, but you have to admit, some of this stuff is a little too close for comfort."

Sheena exhaled noisily as she jumped onto the bed next to him. "Look, if I really was the re-embodiment of some ancient god, do you think I'd be taking orders from you in a robattle? Oh no, my friend, you'd be giving an hourly buffing and wax."

Larry grinned slightly, and it grew after a while. "I guess you're right."

"Naturally. Now, get your butt in gear, we've got some robattles to win."

"Huh?"

Sheena sighed. "Hello, anyone there? You do still want to make it to that provincial tournament, don't you?"

"Oh, that. I checked the standings last night. So far, we're sixth in Gauteng. But, only the top two qualify, so let's get going."

"That's more like it," She replied as the two left the house. "Forget the past, focus on the present. That's what I always say."

Two days later, the two had chalked up a number of victories without any losses or having to resort to the Medaforce. They had qualified for the Nationals, but only barely, winning the last fight that pushed them up to second.

Larry was out jogging when the phone rang. Sheena got up from the couch and answered it.

"Hello, Linford residence"

_"Hello? Who is this? Where's Larry" _It was a woman.

"Whoa, aren't you just the nosy one. Larry's out, so do you want to leave a message?"

_"Excuse me? Listen, I want to know who you are..."_

Sheena was starting to get slightly annoyed. "That's none of your business, but since we are playing 'Twenty Questions', how about you give me your name?"

The woman's voice was cold as she replied. _"My name is Zelda Linford. I'm Larry's mother."_

That was enough to silence Sheena, and she mentally kicked herself. _Oh, brilliant going, Sheena. Just go and insult the person who is, for all intents and purposes, your medafighter's boss. That's a sure-fire way of ending up back at the scrap heap._

_"Not so talkative now, are you, missy? So, where is my son? I told him about bringing girls home."_

"Hold it, Mrs. Linford, we're not exactly on the same page here. Let me start from the beginning..."

_"Good. Name?"_

"My nickname, or manufacturer name?"

_"What?"_

"I'm Metabee, serial number: MCMTB 004560, but Larry just calls me Sheena. I'm not a girl in the traditional sense of the word, I'm a Medabot."

Larry's mom's voice suddenly warmed up. _"Oh, really? So that's what the message was about. He told me he needed two aeroplane tickets to __Cape Town__, but didn't say what they were for. I guess he's going to some sort of competition involving you Medabots, right?"_

"Yeah. We succeeded in qualifying for the Nationals, but I didn't know we were flying down."

_"Well, ask him to phone me when he gets back. It was a pleasure meeting you, Sheena."_

"You too, Mrs. L. Bye." Sheena replaced the phone and jumped up into the air. "Yes! I'm going flying!"

Larry came home at that exact moment, and caught her sentence. "Exactly where are you flying to?"

Sheena lost her balance mid-jump and crashed painfully to the floor. She picked herself up and jumped onto him, locking him in a bearhug. Larry staggered back into the wall and fell down. Over Sheena's cries of "We're flying, we're flying!" he tried to point out that she was crushing his trachea. She eventually let him go and told him the story, though he had to make her start over a few times because she was babbling on at a pace that made it difficult to understand what she was saying. When she was finished, he immediately got on the phone with his mother. They spoke for about ten minutes, and judging by Larry's laughter, he was being told the particulars of their conversation earlier.

Larry came into the hall and spoke to her. "My mom's already booked a second ticket for you. We're both flying business class, so you'd better behave yourself."

"Of course," Sheena replied, batting her eyes innocently. "I don't even know why you're telling me that."

"Yeah right," Larry said as they mounted the stairs to his room. "I'd better go pack, we're flying the day after tomorrow. Wanna help, or are you scared I might seduce you like I do to all girls?"

Sheena giggled. "You shall make no assault on my honour, young man, or I will phone your mother."

When Larry and Sheena disembarked from the flight that had taken them to Cape Town a day later, neither of them was in the best of moods. Larry was mumbling underneath his breath, while Sheena merely stared ahead, not saying a word.

As they crossed the runway into the terminal, Sheena finally said something. "Why didn't you just give me the barf bag when I asked for it?"

"Because," Larry replied, his voice barely audible. "I thought you were messing around. If I had known Medabots were capable of getting airsick, I would have done so."

"I'm just saying this so you don't go blaming me, because you look sort of cheesed off."

"Oh, I only LOOK cheesed off?" Larry stopped dead in his tracks and glared down at Sheena. "I AM cheesed off! You kicked up a racket in the aeroplane when we hit turbulence, then you started on about the barf bag. And, to crown it all off...YOU VOMITED ALL OVER ME!"

Sheena glared back. "IT'S ONLY COOLANT FLUID!"

"WELL, I STILL HAD TO SIT THROUGH THE ENTIRE FLIGHT SMELLING LIKE SOME REDNECK MECHANIC!"

"IF YOU HAD JUST BELIEVED ME..."

Both were now yelling at the top of their voices.

Larry interrupted her. "WELL, YOU DIDN'T HELP WHEN YOU OVEREACTED TO A LITTLE TURBULENCE." His voice took on a pretty good imitation of Sheena. "'We're going to crash! I'm too young to die!' NOW TELL ME THAT I SHOULD HAVE BELIEVED YOU WERE AIRSICK AFTER THAT LITTLE PERFORMANCE!"

Sheena took a step towards Larry and raised her fist. "ONE MORE WORD OUT OF YOU..."

"AND WHAT THEN? LISTEN TO ME, SHORT STUFF..."

Both abruptly looked up to see that all of the activity in the arrivals terminal had ceased, and most people were now staring openly at them. A small child of six was pointing at Sheena and telling his mother "Look at the funny man and his robot, mommy! They look kind of dumb."

Larry turned away from Sheena to the child's mother. "Ma'am, I think you'd better teach your child that if he wants to insult other people, he should perhaps take his finger out of his nose first."

The woman looked affronted. "Well, I never! My child did no such thing."

Larry was about to reply, when Sheena pre-empted him. "Look lady. When I was watching him, he seemed to be getting ready to perform a lobotomy on himself."

"You two are rude, and unmannered! First you stand and bicker for all the world to hear, and then you have the cheek to insult my son. Really!"

She stormed off in a huff, dragging her son behind her. Larry stared after her and shook his head, laughing. Sheena tried to maintain her look of anger, but eventually, she too dissolved into laughter. The people who had been staring at them lost interest and began moving to their destinations again, leaving only the young man and his Medabot, who were still laughing. They finally stopped, and the two glanced at each other.

"Well," Larry said and shrugged. "I guess it is only coolant."

Sheena punched him in the side. "Forget about it. We've got more important things to worry about. So, how is this tournament going to work?"

Larry explained in the taxi on the way to their hotel. The tournament was going to be fought in an elimination bracket. Each province provided two medafighters, which meant there were eighteen medafighters who were going to be battling it out. But there was more at stake here than just being the national champion. These championships would also determine who would be in the team South Africa sent to the World Robattle Championship. Even though it was still eighteen months until the WRC would be held, the team needed time to prepare.

"I don't want to put too much pressure on you, Sheena," Larry said as they entered the hotel. "But I'm planning to be on that team."

"Don't worry," She said as he checked them in. "If it's the last thing I do, I'll make sure we get there."

Larry stood on the balcony overlooking the busy street below and about half a kilometre further, was the ocean, sparkling like a huge sapphire in the midday sun. Sheena was lazing around on the bed, watching TV. He knew they should probably be preparing for the tournament, but he felt even less like doing anything constructive than she did. He guessed it must be the sea air.

"Sheena, I'm heading down to the pool. You want to come with?"

His Medabot turned her head slowly towards him, and then back at the TV. "No thanks, this is a really good movie. You go and check out some girls, I'll stay here."

"Fine," Larry said as he opened their door. "But just remember that we have a tournament starting tomorrow afternoon. Tomorrow morning we are going to run drills like crazy, so prepare yourself."

Dressed in a pair of sandals, blue boardshorts and an open neck Hawaiian shirt, Larry got into the elevator and pressed the button for the ground floor. As the doors were about to close, he heard a voice yelling "Hold the elevator, please!".

He grabbed the doors and held them open for the girl who came jogging in. If it hadn't been for the fact that Larry had recognised her voice, he never would have known who it was.

"Alexis, is that you?"

The girl glanced up at him and her eyes widened in surprise. "Larry, what are you doing here?"

Larry looked at her in dumbfounded silence. Of the stuffy rich girl he had last seen at Jane's workshop, there was very little left. Now, she had her red hair hanging loose and it spilled down her shoulders in crimson waves. Her face, which had been slightly pale the last time he saw her, was now lightly tanned from the summer sun and made her green eyes shimmer even more than usual. She was dressed in a white blouse and a pair of white shorts that accented her long legs, which were also turning brown now.

"I'm here for the tournament," He finally replied. "My record isn't as impressive as yours, miss Number One, but I did qualify."

"You're the other medafighter from Gauteng? I never even checked after I knew I had qualified. You don't know how glad I am you made it, I was scared Hank or Jeff would have made it and my relationship with the pair of them isn't the best at the moment."

"Forget them," Larry made a dismissive gesture with his hand. "Hanging out with them any longer probably would have dropped your IQ below zero. You look like you're enjoying yourself."

"I am," She replied, smiling. "I was actually on my way to have a look at the stadium where they're planning to hold the tournament. It's only a five minute walk from here, so do you feel like joining me?"

"Sure. It beats hanging around here all day."

"I just have one question," She said, and looked at him. "Your surname is Linford, right?"

"Last time I checked," Larry replied. "Why?"

"Are you by any chance related to Pierre Linford?"

Larry laughed. He wondered how long it would be before she had figured that out. Pierre was his cousin, and had been robattling a whole lot longer than Larry had, a whole year longer in fact. Even though no "official" national rankings had yet been taken, Larry would easily place his cousin as one of the best, and he told Alexis this.

"His stats prove your point," Alexis replied, her eyes distant. "Number one Medafighter from the Eastern Cape, one of highest "win/robattles fought" percentages. Do you know if he's here?"

"I suspect so. Knowing how into his robattling he is, he's probably scoping out the venue already."

"What's he like?" Alexis's question tried to come out casually, but Larry could hear a competitive edge to her voice.

"Sorry, Alexis, but I'm keeping that info to myself. With pros like you and my cousin here, I'm going to need every advantage I can get."

"Oh, you're no fun. And, Larry, you can call em Alex if you want."

"Alex it is, then."

Larry looked at her and grinned, and she smiled too. This was going to be an interesting competition, to say the least.

When they arrived at the arena, a small, informal match was already going on outside. One of the medafighters was a girl of about sixteen. Larry took one glance at her face and saw that it didn't look as if she was prepared for the beating that her opponent was giving her.

Alex took him by the arm and led them past the crowd so they could see what was happening. The girl's Medabot was lying on the ground, struggling to get up. The enemy Medabot was standing a few feet away, waiting for a command from its medafighter.

The Medabot was silver-grey in colour, with black stripes running down its arms and legs. It had no visible weapons, but its arms and legs looked toughened, showing it was built for close combat.

"Riptide, let's finish this. Spear attack!" The medafighter shouted.

Larry's head swung towards the medafighter so fast, Alex thought he might have hurt himself from the whiplash. She looked at him and didn't see anything strange about him, unless you counted the fact that he was about four years younger than the girl he was fighting.

She looked to his Medabot, which had hunched over, hands on his knees. It seemed to be waiting for the opposing Medabot to get up. It did, completely facing the wrong way and not noticing the Medabot stalking it. At that precise moment, the waiting Medabot sprang forward, rushing its opponent. The girl's Medabot turned around a second before it was taken down by a hard tackle to the body. It struck the ground, its head slamming into the ground so hard that it bounced once.

The young boy had clearly won the battle, and she wanted to tell Larry something, but he was already walking towards the winner. The boy glanced at Larry for a second, before he did a double-take, staring at Larry with his mouth open. Larry smiled, and said something that she couldn't hear. The boy grinned and held out his hand. Larry took it and they shook, before Larry pulled the boy closer and placed him in a headlock.

Now, she could hear his shout. "Hey, I thought you were more mature than this, Larry. Owww!"

Larry grinned as he gave the boy a noogie. "You've gone soft without me around, pal. You used to be able to get out of one of these without any problem."

"I've grown up, something that you obviously haven't done," The boy said as he shoved Larry off him. When he did, he glanced in Alex's direction. "Then again, what you lack in maturity you make up for in taste. Who's your girlfriend?"

Alex raised her eyebrow in annoyance. "Excuse me? Just who do you think you are?"

He grinned cockily at her. "Ooh, feisty. Well babe, you're talking to the most skilled medafighter in the Eastern Cape, if not the entire country."

Seeing Alex's face shift from annoyed to flat-out amazement, Larry leaned on the boy's shoulder and grinned as well. " Alex, meet my cousin, Pierre Linford."

"So, when did you become such an expert?" Pierre asked his cousin. The three of them were sitting in the coffee shop inside the stadium. Pierre's Medabot, Riptide, had gone off somewhere, and the three medafighters were now discussing the tournament.

"Heh, would you believe I've had Sheena less than a month?"

"No way," Pierre said, his slice of chocolate cake hovering half-way to his mouth. "You can't be serious? I've been robattling almost a year and here you come along with a month's worth of experience and squeeze into the number two spot. How'd you do it?"

"Well, with my natural talent, of course." Larry smiled, and nodded in Alex's direction. "If it will make you feel any better, Gauteng's not exactly packed to the rafters with skilled medafighters. The lady here is the exception of course."

At this remark, Alex blushed slightly. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Larry. But Pierre, I had no idea you were so..."

"Good looking? Yeah, I know it stuns the girls sometimes, but hey."

"Actually, I meant to say I wasn't expecting you to be so young," She replied dryly. "And you should watch that mouth of yours. One day, you might run into a girl who isn't as forgiving as I am."

The boy flashed her his cocky smile again, and he and Larry started talking about family matters. She didn't particularly feel left out, as it gave her time to compare the two cousins. Larry had told her that the two of them were more closely related than most cousins (Their fathers were brothers and their mothers sisters) which would probably explain the bond the two of them had. However, as she looked at the two of them now, she didn't really see a family resemblance.

While both of them were tall for their respective ages, Larry had a more stout build, whereas Pierre was quite skinny. Larry's hair was such a dark shade of brown, it could almost be seen as black, and it was as thick a prairie hedge. Pierre's hair was a sandy, light-brown colour and quite thin. Larry had dark blue eyes and Pierre had light-brown ones.

"...Fellyne?"

"Huh?" Alex's thinking was interrupted by a question from Larry.

"I said, where's Fellyne? I didn't see her anywhere in the hotel."

"I left her in my room. And speaking of which, where's that loudmouth Medabot of yours?"

"She thought that the marathon of John Wayne movies was more entertaining than hanging out with me."

"It must be harsh, being ditched for an old cowboy."

"Like you wouldn't believe

Their conversation was interrupted by the Public Announce system. _"Will the following medafighters please report to the Security Office: Alexis Adams, Larry Linford and Pierre Linford. Your Medabots are currently impounded there."_

Alex looked at Larry, who looked at Pierre. "What are they talking about?" Alex asked. "Both Sheena and Fellyne are at our hotel, and besides, they can't know your Medabot, can they?"

Pierre shrugged. "Weirder things have happened to Riptide. Anyway, we'd better go get them. Can't enter a Medabot tournament with no Medabot."

"...And next time, don't leave your Medabot unattended. You got that, son?" The aged security guard's lecture finally ended, and Larry was pretty thankful for it.

"Yes, sir. Come on, Sheena, we're going."

His Medabot, who was still pretty angry that she had been locked in a cage for the past ten minutes, merely nodded and walked out with him. It was already late, and the sun was setting as they walked out of the arena. Since the stadium was only a few blocks from the hotel, he decided they would walk back. It would also give him time to get the story from Sheena.

Alex and Pierre had gotten their Medabots back without any trouble. Riptide did look slightly dented when he left with Pierre, and Fellyne had seemed as irate as Sheena had been when he went to collect her. But, according to the guard, since Sheena started the fight, her medafighter needed a good talking to. And that's exactly what he got. Twenty minutes worth, actually.

"Sheena, you mind telling me what happened back there? First off, how did you get here? Secondly, how did you meet up with Fellyne, and thirdly, exactly why would the two of you try to beat up Riptide?"

And Larry got the whole story, the entire, very strange story. Apparently, Sheena had run into Fellyne at the hotel when she had gone down to the pool area to find him, unaware of the fact that he had gone with Alex to the tournament stadium. Once there, she had spotted the cat-shaped Medabot practising by the pool. And naturally enough, had gone over to mess with her a bit.

After they had exchanged one or two insults (Larry guessed that this was the closest the two Medabots would ever come to making casual chit-chat ) Fellyne told Sheena that she had seen both their medafighters leave the hotel and that she had a pretty good idea where they were headed. Since the John Wayne marathon was over, Sheena decided she might as well go along with Fellyne. They had arrived easily enough, and were strolling through the stadium whilst looking for their medafighters. That was, until Riptide had shown up.

When Pierre had first wrote to Larry about his new Medabot (Pierre was a technology freak, and so had imported Riptide about two months after the release of Medabots in Japan), he had mentioned a slightly strange trait.

It seems Riptide was a bit of a skirt-chaser, strange as that might sound. Any female Medabot that came within a mile of him could pretty much count on being hit on. Riptide must have thought he had hit the jackpot when he saw the two female Medabots walking around unattended. Poor guy didn't know what he was letting himself in for, as he soon found out.

When his suave flirtatious banter failed to impress Fellyne, he tried to on Sheena, who told him in no uncertain terms into which of his sockets he could shove his offer of a romantic evening. Next was when made his fatal mistake.

"Alright ladies," He had said and walked past them. "If you want it that way, it's fine." And had swatted both of the lady Medabots firmly on the behind.

Sheena had to stop her story at this point, because Larry finally couldn't keep his laughter inside anymore and had to lean against a tree while he tried to catch his breath. Glaring at him when he finally stopped, she asked "Are you done?"

"Yeah, sure." Larry said and sniggered one last time. "Carry on."

It turns out there wasn't a lot more to the story. Obviously, these two girls weren't going to take this lying down and proceeded to beat the absolute hell out of Riptide, who was too surprised to even try and defend himself, leaving him to Sheena and Fellyne's mercy until the security guards finally showed up.

When they got back to the hotel, Larry glanced at his watch and felt a slight drop in his stomach.

There was less than fifteen hours until the national tournament started.


End file.
